When we are discussing the Iranians or others in the Middle East, I understand their dismissing the Holocaust as a real event. It goes with the territory, so-to-speak.

But when I heard that a Boca Raton, FL principal wrote in a 2018 email to a parent that “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened,” my jaw dropped.

It appears that Laton Latson, principal at Spanish River High School, was determined to fulfill his understanding of “political correctness” to deal with the situation: the state has mandated since 1994 that the a Holocaust curriculum be taught, but Latson received pushback from some parents; a controversy about the teaching of the Holocaust curriculum at his school had developed. It looks like his idea of soft-pedaling the situation was by writing he needed to be “neutral” about the topic.

Mr. Latson has been moved from his position of principal to another position in the District, and at this writing, a petition to dismiss the principal was set up at change.org and had more than 6,000 signatures.

Several Jewish organizations are planning to offer additional Holocaust education to Spanish River and its teachers, including the Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services, which assists 400 Holocaust survivors in the Boca Raton area, said Danielle Hartman, chief executive officer.

‘We are planning on reaching out to Principal Latson to offer a Holocaust sensitivity training for the faculty and administration and to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never forgotten and never minimized,’ Hartman said.

More than 10,000 survivors are estimated to live in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, the second largest concentration in the United States after New York.

* * *

I’m surprised at my own reaction to this situation: I’m ambivalent about how it’s being handled.

I think the man was foolish to write what he wrote, and should be counseled on how to address conflicts from students and parents regarding the teaching of the Holocaust; maybe he could even have been suspended for a period. But losing his job?

Is the Holocaust curriculum adequate and age-appropriate? Does it explain to teachers and students the reasons it is taught in the Florida schools?

I appreciate that organizations want to be sure that the curriculum is appropriate, but is Holocaust sensitivity training for the teachers and administrators necessary, because of Latson’s bad judgment? (The Jewish organizations “offered” the training, didn’t demand it.)

At a time when we keep seeing anti-Semitic activities everywhere, and with Boca Raton having a large Jewish community, I can understand why this situation caused such a stir. But how much of the curriculum should be spent on Holocaust education? Should parents be allowed to pull their children from class when the Holocaust is taught, for whatever reason? I also wonder if the District and local organizations’ responses will be helpful to the school and community.

His statement, by itself, is not offensive nor wrong: “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened”.

Of course, not everyone believes your gender is related in any way to what body parts you were born with, and not everyone believes that the US put a man on the moon or that the earth is spherical.

The real question should be, is he teaching that the holocaust, or any other historical lesson, is a matter of personal opinion, or that there is a real and verifiable history to teach?

Many wish to rewrite history, not just the holocaust. After all, if something as verifiable and immutable as your gender is open to interpretation, everything is. I suspect this man is caught up in the ‘feelings trump everything’ world, where if you think 1+1 = 6, that is your truth and should be respected.

The holocaust is an emotional and offensive topic so it is a flashpoint, but my bet is he would agree that ‘not everyone believes X’ is always a valid statement.

I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school and we have hundreds of museums, movies, and books dedicated to our enlightenment of what happened. But other genocides are not discussed, taught, illuminated, almost as if they never happened.

The reason given for this is that the holocaust was unique… like American slavery was unique. Numbers are given to prove how unique or that it nearly exclusively targeted Jews.

This wasn’t a one time thing; apparently he’s been saying things like this for years.

In the public schools, you can be neutral on whether God created the universe. You can’t be “neutral” on whether or not the Civil War or WWII happened. His remarks and attitude is so strange I don’t think they had much choice but to remove him as principal. My only surprise is he hasn’t played the race card–yet.

Generally I am dubious about the real value of sensitivity training, including a visit to holocaust museums; I think it’s more of a symbolic penance than anything useful.

PHenry (View Comment):The real question should be, is he teaching that the holocaust, or any other historical lesson, is a matter of personal opinion, or that there is a real and verifiable history to teach?

DonG (View Comment):He did apologize for that remark. I think by “can’t say” he did not mean denial, but that he felt the administration discouraged it. The latter is more disturbing than the former. Leftism is a cancer.

That’s why I suggested he had to be counseled on handling these types of conflicts. He handled it badly.

Is “not everybody” a proxy for the green wing of the red-green alliance? If “not everybody” was “poor whites blaming the Jews for running the world” I rather doubt this official would be worried in the slightest about their feelings about what is taught in a public school.

Stina (View Comment):I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school

I wonder if this is done, because if kids are taught about the parade of genocide in history, they will stop hating America as the Leftists teach it. For example, if kids know about the Japanese atrocities in WWII, they would be less shocked by the temporary internment of some Japanese Americans. “Kids, every race and creed has done horrible things and some are still happening.” does not fit the Leftist narrative.

That said, the Holocaust is good to focus on. It is well documented, breathtaking in scale, and fairly recent.

Stina (View Comment):I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school

I wonder if this is done, because if kids are taught about the parade of genocide in history, they will stop hating America as the Leftists teach it. For example, if kids know about the Japanese atrocities in WWII, they would be less shocked by the temporary internment of some Japanese Americans. “Kids, every race and creed has done horrible things and some are still happening.” does not fit the Leftist narrative.

That said, the Holocaust is good to focus on. It is well documented, breathtaking in scale, and fairly recent.

Interesting ideas, @dong. I had never heard of the Rwanda genocide, which boggles the mind for 1 million dying over about three months. When I read about it and the atrocities, it was overwhelming. It did broaden my perspective about man’s inhumanity to man, too.

Wait, what do *you* think the “green” refers to? I thought it was environmentalists.

There are two usages of the term; the Socialist/Environmentalist alliance was the original, but now its often used to refer to the Leftist/Muslim alliance. The former has for all practical purposes been amalgamated into modern Progressivism, while the latter still involves quite distinct factions held together by common interests, as well as the Leftist doctrine that ‘disadvantaged’ groups can never be guilty of, or held to account for, things like bigotry and discrimination. The more…..professionally indoctrinated among the Leftist believe that this alliance will contribute to the gradual erosion of religious* belief among Muslims in the long-term, alleviating its inherent contradictions. Besides, both groups oppose religious liberty and freedom of speech.

*Because they believe religiosity, not specific religious beliefs, lead to extremism and terrorism. Oh, and don’t forget about Imperialism and Colonial grievances, which as everyone knows, only happened to Muslims.

Seriously? That is disgraceful. But I shouldn’t be surprised. The Left wants to be the ones who decide what is history worth repeating. I just can’t figure out why the Nazi history wouldn’t serve them well, since they equate Trump and the Right with the Nazis. Or maybe when a person sees the actual history, they realize how absurd the comparison is. Sigh.

Seriously? That is disgraceful. But I shouldn’t be surprised. The Left wants to be the ones who decide what is history worth repeating. I just can’t figure out why the Nazi history wouldn’t serve them well, since they equate Trump and the Right with the Nazis. Or maybe when a person sees the actual history, they realize how absurd the comparison is. Sigh.

The name calling is only effective, if their is a large part of the public that doesnt understand who the Nazi’s were.

Seriously? That is disgraceful. But I shouldn’t be surprised. The Left wants to be the ones who decide what is history worth repeating. I just can’t figure out why the Nazi history wouldn’t serve them well, since they equate Trump and the Right with the Nazis. Or maybe when a person sees the actual history, they realize how absurd the comparison is. Sigh.

The name calling is only effective, if their is a large part of the public that doesnt understand who the Nazi’s were.

Good point. But I think the public gets information about the Nazis from places other than documentaries. It would be interesting to know to what degree the Nazi regime is covered in various textbooks.

OccupantCDN (View Comment):YouTube’s ‘hate speech’ edicts have hit history documentaries rather hard – many documentaries dealing with Nazi Germany and the rise of the Nazi Party have been deleted as hate speech.

There are alternatives for all the big media sites. BitChute.com has videos. Gab is like Twitter. …

Let’s get to the heart of this stupidity: Exactly how many schools had a history curriculum so deficient that the political class had to mandate we teach WWII and the Shoah? It usually takes quite a bit to get their attention.

And somebody needs to step up and tell the people on both sides who go around demanding people get fired to go sit in the corner of a round room and do whatever it is that they do until they go blind. The principal wouldn’t have given such a lame excuse if someone had the guy’s back. This isn’t about herding kindergarteners into a room and showing them movies taken during the liberation of the camps. This is high school. And they need to see it and be made to understand that it is not CGI but represents the zenith of real bigotry and hatred. And they need to be taught that that millions of their forefathers took up arms and invaded a continent to stop it.

Stina (View Comment):I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school

I wonder if this is done, because if kids are taught about the parade of genocide in history, they will stop hating America as the Leftists teach it. For example, if kids know about the Japanese atrocities in WWII, they would be less shocked by the temporary internment of some Japanese Americans. “Kids, every race and creed has done horrible things and some are still happening.” does not fit the Leftist narrative.

That said, the Holocaust is good to focus on. It is well documented, breathtaking in scale, and fairly recent.

Interesting ideas, @dong. I had never heard of the Rwanda genocide, which boggles the mind for 1 million dying over about three months. When I read about it and the atrocities, it was overwhelming. It did broaden my perspective about man’s inhumanity to man, too.

Yes, and Rwanda made a mockery of the “never again” slogan. When the killing is done with machetes, directed from a single AM radio station, it is clear that megadeath is actually tolerable to “civilized” societies.

I remember the olden days when “Holocaust Denier” was such a potent political charge, that it was modified for “Climate Denier”, and was not a viewpoint that would be tolerated – irredeemable basket of deplorable.

Or thinking back even further, I remember Jim Keegstra, who fought a 24 year legal battle after being charged with “Unlawfully spreading Hate” when he taught holocaust denial to his Social Studies classes in Eckville AB. He taught in the Eckville school from 1968 to when he was fired in 1982.

Stina (View Comment):I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school

I wonder if this is done, because if kids are taught about the parade of genocide in history, they will stop hating America as the Leftists teach it. For example, if kids know about the Japanese atrocities in WWII, they would be less shocked by the temporary internment of some Japanese Americans. “Kids, every race and creed has done horrible things and some are still happening.” does not fit the Leftist narrative.

That said, the Holocaust is good to focus on. It is well documented, breathtaking in scale, and fairly recent.

Interesting ideas, @dong. I had never heard of the Rwanda genocide, which boggles the mind for 1 million dying over about three months. When I read about it and the atrocities, it was overwhelming. It did broaden my perspective about man’s inhumanity to man, too.

Yes, and Rwanda made a mockery of the “never again” slogan. When the killing is done with machetes, directed from a single AM radio station, it is clear that megadeath is actually tolerable to “civilized” societies.

I’ve never forgotten a book on the Rwanda massacres, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.

I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school and we have hundreds of museums, movies, and books dedicated to our enlightenment of what happened. But other genocides are not discussed, taught, illuminated, almost as if they never happened.

The reason given for this is that the holocaust was unique… like American slavery was unique. Numbers are given to prove how unique or that it nearly exclusively targeted Jews.

I know there is controversy on both those assertions.

This post got me thinking. Stalin’s crimes are always downplayed in the sanitized version of history. And Holodomor denial is definitely something that’s increased in the more radical spheres.

Armenian Genocide denial exists.

I’m not sure about Mao. I’ve unfortunately listened to some nutjob Maoists and they don’t deny the Great Leap Forward, but defend it as a necessary evil. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there are deniers out there.

It’s odd that genocide denial has somehow taken on a flat-earth, cult-like following with the modern left.

Stina (View Comment):I don’t think I’ve kept it a secret that I’m irritated that this is the only genocide taught in school

I wonder if this is done, because if kids are taught about the parade of genocide in history, they will stop hating America as the Leftists teach it. For example, if kids know about the Japanese atrocities in WWII, they would be less shocked by the temporary internment of some Japanese Americans. “Kids, every race and creed has done horrible things and some are still happening.” does not fit the Leftist narrative.

That said, the Holocaust is good to focus on. It is well documented, breathtaking in scale, and fairly recent.

Interesting ideas, @dong. I had never heard of the Rwanda genocide, which boggles the mind for 1 million dying over about three months. When I read about it and the atrocities, it was overwhelming. It did broaden my perspective about man’s inhumanity to man, too.

Yes, and Rwanda made a mockery of the “never again” slogan. When the killing is done with machetes, directed from a single AM radio station, it is clear that megadeath is actually tolerable to “civilized” societies.

A single radio station that, in the months before the genocide, spread a constant, everyday barrage of dehumanizing propaganda in pursuit of hysteria, all while being primarily (in the eyes of its listening audience) a music station providing the latest available entertainment. I’m reminded of that every time I think about the state of our oligarchic social media (thank God we have guns).

Despite the wishful thinking of some, what happens in such entertainment mediums is very very real, if not now then in the not-too-distant future.